With a background in philosophy and art, added a touch of catholic upbringing, Kim Ki-Duk has become both one of the most productive and original directors to come out of South Korea, having made ten films over the last eight years. While gaining more and more critical appeal and understanding, he is still largely unappreciated by the general audience, who even in Korea turn the back to his film. Perhaps if he made "nicer" films, he would become more accepted and lesser hated, but that is not what Kim wants. He is not making films to satisfy an audience: "I don’t try to entice viewers to watch, understand, or even like my films." To Kim, trying to please an audience is compromising ones thought, to sell out.

Jae-Young is prostituting herself, being managed by her best friend, Yeo-Ji, in order for them to save up money to visit Europe. Jea-Young is so in love with being a prostitute, that she adapts the name Vasumitra, after a prostitute who turned men into devoted Buddhist by sleeping with them. When surprised by the police, Jea-Young jumps out of a window, crushing her skull. Having been rushed to the hospital by Yeo-Ji, the doctors do not expect her to survive the day, thus Jea-Young asks Yeo-Ji to get one of her customers, whom she is in love with. Yeo-Ji gets him, at a price, but they return to late: Jea-Young is dead.

So begins Kim Ki-Duk latest film "Samaria". Awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for best direction, and being one of the films in the race for Best Film, "Samaria" is allegory questioning both moral and sin. Divided into three chapters: “Vasumitra” deals with the friendship between Jae-Young and Yeo-Ji, “Samaria” deals with Yeo-Ji’s reaction to the death of her best friend and the final chapter, “Sonata”, concludes.

Many have been offended by the presentation of teen prostitution, but one only needs to open the newspaper to realize, that Kim actually has approached the subject with both taste and tact. In an interview, Kim pointed out: "There are over 600,000 teenage prostitutes in South Korea. This means, that over 600,000 fathers have sex with girls who are someone’s daughter."

Henrik Sylow